UK concerned over lack of 5G supply chain diversity after cutting out Huawei
The UK decision to remove Huawei equipment from its emerging 5G networks out of concerns over security and US sanctions has left the country vulnerable to delays and higher costs through having to rely on just two other vendors of this critical technology. This is the conclusion of a parliamentary committee, which also warned that pinning all hopes on the UK government’s 5G Supply Chain Diversification Strategy proposing technology based around open standards, including Open RAN, was risky. The committee did not spell out what alternatives there were, but the concerns raised will also apply to some other countries.
Orange to open nine 5G labs in Europe with Industrial IoT focus
French telco Orange has promised to open nine ‘5G labs’ in Europe in 2021, to foster collaboration with local enterprises to elevate 5G use cases around the so-called industry 4.0. This refers to a “fourth industrial revolution” brought on by automation in manufacturing, monitoring and maintenance through the industrial IoT and 5G communications. Orange is planning seven sites in France and one each in Belgium and Romania, with the first in Paris already operational.
The initial agenda is to drive 5G development in the Industry 4.0 arena, as well as well as smart cities and general enterprise applications. The main focus will be on industrial 5G as reflected by the choice of locations in cities such as Lyon with a high density of manufacturing.
Deutsche Telekom combines licensed LTE-M and unlicensed LoRaWAN
Deutsche Telekom is working with The Things Network (TTN), to combine licensed and unlicensed low power WAN (LPWAN) technologies LTE-M and LoRaWAN into a single IoT connectivity package. The pair are proposing ‘out-of-the-box’ IoT connectivity, where LTE-M backhauls data generated by LoRaWAN-based sensor arrays.
T-Mobile, Telekom’s MNO, has developed a dual-mode LoRaWAN/LTE-M gateway, manufactured by Mikrotik, connecting to a device and data platform from The Things Industries (TTI), TTN’s industrial products division. This is being pitched particularly at the market for enterprise-based smart building controls, as a “smart building starter kit”.
Telensa deploys smart street lighting in Brazil
The municipality of Uberlândia in Brazil is modernizing 22,000 street lights for smart operation with help from Telensa, a provider of wireless smart city technology based in Cambridge, UK. Telensa will employ its central management solution (CMS) called Planet in conjunction with local partner Novakoasin to connect individual lights via nodes across a dedicated wireless network into a cloud-based software platform. Telensa claims this will reduce the amount of energy used by the municipality’s streetlights, cutting carbon emissions accordingly.